The war on HIV/AIDS
Miss Universe 2015 Pia Alonzo Wurtzbach takes a bold action against the epidemic
Miss Universe 2015 Pia Alonzo Wurtzbach takes a bold action against the epidemic
From here on, let us further strengthen our bonds in battling HIV/AIDS in the Philippines, in Asia, and the universe.
HIV-AIDS has reached epidemic levels in the Philippines. While more treatment studies are being conducted and facilities being developed, the number of people with HIV is also increasing.
Based on the data from the Department of Health (DOH) Epidemiology Bureau, the number of new HIV cases in the Philippines per day has steadily increased from one per day in 2007 to 29 per day in 2017. Over the years, HIV infections have grown at an alarming rate among young people from key populations, including men who have sex with men and transgender people. In May 2017 alone, the Philippines reported 1,098 newly diagnosed HIV cases nationwide. Of these, 325 or roughly 30 percent were among youth aged 15 to 25 while 554 or more than half were from the 25 to 34 age group.
While the Asia-Pacific region has made substantial progress in responding to HIV, the region is now lagging behind in global trends, and young people from key populations are at particular risk of HIV.
“We recognize the big burden of HIV, especially in the National Capital Region (NCR). NCR contributes to 40 percent of the total HIV cases in the Philippines. With this challenge, DOH-NCR has upscaled our treatment facilities. DOH has increased the budget for this to upscale the facilities. We have treatment hubs and hospitals where we can bring those who are infected. We would like also to encourage everyone to have themselves checked. It’s free, even the treatment. We don’t want the HIV problem in the Philippines to reach higher than what we have now. We want it to be reverted,” says DOH-NCR assistant regional director Dr. Corazon Flores. “We want everyone in the Philippines to live a long and healthy life and we can only achieve that if we help each other.”
Miss Universe 2015 and United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) goodwill ambassador for Asia and the Pacific, Pia Alonzo Wurtzbach is now taking a bold action on her advocacy for HIV. Right after having her HIV test, the model and actress launched her ambassadorship and unveiled her Project Progressive Information Awareness campaign or PIA Project, which aims to inform young people about HIV and help end the AIDS epidemic, not only in the Philippines, but in the Asia-Pacific region.
This is the second time Pia has undergone a public HIV screening, which she hopes will encourage people to know their HIV status and other celebrities to join her in promoting testing. “As a continuation of my advocacy to stop HIV and AIDS beyond my reign as Ms. Universe 2015, Project PIA aims to promote awareness regarding the issues of HIV/AIDS, sexually transmitted diseases, and sexual orientation, and gender identity and expression or SOGIE. To achieve this, we will utilize the power of the social media for the campaign with #Live2Luv, which will include useful videos on comprehensive HIV and SOGIE 101 to be disseminated to all local government units, higher education institutions, and companies,” says Pia.
The project, in partnership with UNAIDS, LoveYourself, and Taguig City will primarily encourage knowledge augmentation by developing and awareness campaign for young people. “Once the #Live2Love is rolled out, the project will focus on facilitating a campaign promoting HIV testing in community centers and social hygiene clinics and partner with companies to create an HIV and SOGIE program combined with aggressive social media campaign and promotion of community based centers,” says Pia.
The project’s other key initiatives to influence positive behavior are the #LoveGala, a benefit dinner and an awarding for people who created ripples of positive change in the community through the Ripple Awards; the multi-platform Service Delivery Referral System (Project PITCH) to address the concern on the healthcare services for HIV; and the policy advocacy to enable young people to have access to HIV testing and other key health services.
“Project PIA is geared toward policy advocacy. This will enact an HIV ordinance that prohibits discrimination on the basis of HIV status and SOGIE. We will implement this to our partner city, the city of Taguig, to provide the baseline for the envisioned national inclination. We will also continue to advocate for the passage of executive order or an amendment to RA 8504 or The Philippine Aids Prevention and Control Act of 1988 to lower the age of HIV testing from 18 years old down to 15 years old. By doing so, we will be able to address the growing prevalence of HIV infection among the youth,” says Pia. “Together with the #LoveGala, UNAIDS, the city of Taguig, LoveYourself, and DOH, I believe we can achieve the greater goals for our community. From here on, let us further strengthen our bonds in battling HIV/AIDS in the Philippines, in Asia, and the universe.”